Guide on Maracaibo Board Game Rules

Check out our easy to read guide on the Maracaibo Board Game Rules. We cover the objective, gameplay and essential rules to get your game started. 

No more waiting for turns to read the rulebook. All players can find out how to play Marcaibo by visiting this page.
Find out about Maracaibo

Players: 1 to 4 | Game duration from: 30 mins | Game Complexity: EASY Maracaibo rules pdf / rulebook

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What is the goal?

Maracaibo board game:

• 1 – 4 player game
• requires 60 – 150 mins playing time
• recommended for ages 12+

It is the 17th Century. You are a seafarer and adventurer who is trying to increase your reputation among European nations in the Caribbean. These nations are vying for supremacy in the region. You seek to improve your network with these nations to gain fortune and fame.

Your ship starts in Havana and you will play 4 rounds travelling the map and performing actions. to:

• gain an advantage by playing out cards,
• sending your crew to help at particular locations,
• fighting under a nation\’s ßag,
• delivering goods,
• upgrading your ship,
• completing quests, or
• exploring land

As soon as a player has circumnavigated the Caribbean once, interim scores are calculated and money and victory points are distributed Then, everything begins from Havana again.

The story slowly develops during the game and this might alter the game board, or give you new options.

At the end of the game, the player who has used the right cards and tactics to earn the most victory points is the winner.

Game setup

The Game Board

1. Place the Carribean game board map in the centre.
2. Shuffle and place the combat tokens in two face-down piles in the area shown.
3. Shuffle and place the quest tiles in a face-up pile in the area shown. Ensure they are orientated correctly, i.e. with the lighter-coloured planks at the top. Take and place three quest tiles onto the three spaces on the explorer track at the bottom of the board.
4. Take and place the four story tiles in ascending numerical order, next to the quest tile pile, so that the tile with the 1 is visible
5. In a 2-player game only, cover Maracaibo city with the Maracaibo city tile.  In a 3- or 4-player game, return the Maracaibo city tile to the box -you won’t need it. Then, look for the remaining city tiles that have numbers matching your player count, and return the rest to the box. Take the two city tiles marked with a and randomly choose two more.  Shuffle and randomly place the four tiles onto indicated spaces in the following locations:
   • Puerto Plata (No. 4),
   • Santo Domingo (Nort Royal (No. 13), and
   • Cartagena (No. 14).
6. Separate the project cards into A-cards (recognisable by this rope  and B-cards (recogni­zable by tl1is rope: )
   Starting from your second game, there may be C-cards in the game (recognizable by this rope:
7. lf you wish to continue the campaign, shuffle these C-cards with the A-cards, otherwise sort them out and place them beneath the story card pile.

   Shuffle the piles of A-cards and B-cards separately. Then, deal each player 8 cards from the A-card. pile.

   Count out 40 cards from the B-card pile and shuffle these with the remaining A-cards.

   Return the rest of the B-cards to the box – they won’t be used this game.

   Place the shuffled pile face-down next to the game board.
   Reveal the top 4 cards and place next to the pile.
8. Place the doubloons next to the ga1ne board as a general supply. The certificates are worth 10 doubloons. Place the legacy tiles face-down next to the game board.
9. Shuffle the prestige buildings and place four of them along the top of the game board- a face-up card on the I space, and three face-down cards on spaces II to IV. Return the remaining prestige buildings, unseen, to the box – they won’t be used this game
10. Place the ownership markers onto the like-coloured spaces to the left of the influence track (France= blue, England= white, Spain= red). Place a single marker on the left-most space, and two on the remaining spaces.

    In a 2-player game only, immediately place a red ownership marker onto the village at No. 6 (San Juan), a white ownership marker onto the village at No. 7 (St. Ki.tts), and a blue ownership marker
    onto the village at No. 8 (Martinique). When adding ownership
    markers to the board, always take the left-most available marker

Player Setup

10. Each player gets and places a ship board in front of them.

11. Place 2 discs onto each of the indicated circular spaces on yourr ship board. Yott will place a total of 24 discs.

12. Give each player all of the wooden components in their chosen player color. Each player then places:

12a their victory point marker onto space O of the game board\’s victory point track,

12b their ship onto the game board\’s Havana space,

12c their explorer onto the start space of the game board\’s explorer track,

12d one of their influence markers onto space of each nation\’s influence track,

12e one of their markers onto space 1 of their ship board\’s combat track.

12f one of their markers onto space 8 of the doubloon inco1ne track, and the last of their markers onto space O of the victory point income track.

13 Additionally, each player gets:

– two figures of their color
– two career cards
– one overview card

14. Select a starting player. Give that player 8 doubloons. Give the next player in clockwise direction 9 doubloons. Give the third player 10 doubloons, and the fourth player, 11 doubloons.

Gameplay

Maracaibo is played over four rounds:

• Each round represents a decade of your career.
• The round ends as soon as one player\’s ship reaches the last game board\’s space.
• Interim scoring takes place and after the fourth round, the game is over and the final scoring is conducted

On your turn, you perform the following steps in order:

• Phase A) Sailing – Move your ship forward from 1 to 7 locations.
• Phase B) Main Action
  Perform a main action at the location your ship is at, along with as many free actions as you like.
• Phase C) Draw Cards
  Draw cards back up to your hand limit. As soon as you have completed Phase C, your turn is over and it is the turn of the next clockwise player 

If your ship is at a city, you:

•  first deliver a good and then
• perform the indicated city action.

If your ship is at a village, you may perform a village action 

• If you spent 4 to 6 movement points in Phase A, you can perform two village actions
• If you spent all 7 movement points in Phase A, you can perform three village actions

If your ship is at a village, you may perform a village action 

• If you spent 4 to 6 movement points in Phase A, you can perform two village actions
• If you spent all 7 movement points in Phase A, you can perform three village actions

If there is a quest at the location, you can fulfill it.

If your ship’s location has one or more of your assistants in it, you may perform their special assistant action (only one).

The ‘homeward bound’ spaces (20, 21a, 21b, 22) are special city locations. You cannot skip them or deliver goods there.

If your ship’s location has multiple main action options, you can still only perform one action!

You may also choose not to perform any main action.

Before, during, or after your main action you are allowed to perform as many free actions as you like:

– Take one of your cards in hand and add it to the planning area above your ship board. If you fill all 3 spaces,  you are not allowed to perform this action. 

Cards in your planning area do not count towards your hand card limit. You can buy these cards later,but cannot discard chem or use chem as goods or objects.

Complete one of your career goals..

Phase C) Draw cards back up to your hand limit

• Draw cards from the face-down draw pile until you reach your hand limit.
• Instead of drawing from the draw pile, you can choose cards in the face-up display. However, each face-up card chosen will cost 1 doubloon.

At the start of the game, your hand limit is four. During the game, you can improve your ship to increase it to 6 cards.

If you have completed the ship upgrade shown, then you are allowed to take face-up cards without paying for them.

If the draw pile runs out, shuffle and use the discard pile to form a new, face-down draw pile.

Main Actions

The combat action increases your influence with the nations, and lets you gain a combat bonus

• Reveal a combat token from one of the two piles

• Each token indicates a combat value for each nation, and corresponding costs or rewards.
• In rare cases, if both combat token piles are empty, each nation’s combat value is 3

• Choose which of the 3 nations is engaging in combat and pay corresponding costs or bonus

DOUBLOONS: Pay or take the number of doubloons shown

INFLUENCE: Gain 1 influence with this nation. Move your marker on the fighting nation’s influence track one space to the right.

VICTORY POINTS: Immediately score the number of victory points shown.

FIGURE: Immediately take a figure of your color from the general supply, provided there is one there. You can use it as part of the current action.

Combat tokens with additional combat modifiers (shown in their topmost section that affect a nation’s combat value):

If you fight with the nation that has the most ownership markers on locations (cities, villages, and legacy tiles), its combat value is reduced by 2 (this modifier is not applied in the case of a tie).

If fight with the nation that currently has the least ownership markers on locations (cities, villages, and legacy tiles), its combat value is increased by 3 (this modifier is not applied in the case of a tie).

• Perform combat actions with your chosen nation:
  • You can perform multiple combat actions during combat, however, you can perform each individual combat action only once.
  • All combat actions must involve the chosen nation
    • Each combat action reduces the combat value. If a combat action reduces the combat value to less than 0, you cannot perform that combat action.

IMPORTANT!

• You can pay as many combat points (from your ship board) or return as many of your figures back to the general supply to increase the combat value
• Each point or figure you spend or return increases the combat value by 1. However, you can’t reduce the combat value voluntarily to gain combat points or figures.

The general rule: You can never have more than 8 combat points. If your
marker is on space 8 of the combat track, you do not receive additional points.

• You can perform the following two combat actions:

Gain Influence

1. Reduce the combat value by 2 or 5 with the fighting nation or
2. Move your marker on the corresponding nation’s influence track 1 or 2 spaces to the right.

You can only choose one of the two options, not both. This combat action is then used.

Annex or Displace:

1. Choose a flag on the game board.  If no ownership marker is present there, reduce the combat value by 4. If another nation’s marker is already there, reduce the combat value by 6 and remove the other ownership marker from the game.
2. Gain 1 influence with the fighting nation. Take one of the fighting nation’s ownership markers from the supply (taking the left-most one available) and place it on the flag’s location.  Receive the bonus indicated on the flag.

You can choose only one of the two options (annexing or displacing). This combat action is then used.

• Additional Combat Actions
  • Buying certain cards allows additional combat actions
  • New combat actions might enter the game via story cards or legacy tiles
  • The same rules apply to these: You can only perform each combat action once per turn. And for all combat actions: You can only displace other nation’s ownership markers!

Your main action is over when you no longer can (combat value would drop below 0) or want to perform any more combat actions. Take the combat token and place it face-down onto the appropriate location on your ship board. Any unused combat value is lost.

Influence Tracks

• Each nation has an influence track.
• Each nation’s ownership markers are located to the left of these at the start of the game.
• During the game, you will gain influence with one nation or another at various times. When you gain influence, move your influence marker for the corresponding nation 1 space to the right.
• The levels with red backgrounds indicate the noble ranks you can reach with the different nations, where the higher the rank, the more victory points you score for this nation at the end of the game
• If one of your influence markers reaches right-most track space, it remains there and score 2 victory points for each space it would have moved
• When placing an ownership marker, always remove and place left-most marker from the nation’s supply. For each nation, the more spaces that are fully emptied of ownership markers, the more victory points you score for noble ranks with that nation at the end of the game.

 

Exploring

Move your explorer on the explorer track up to as many spaces as indicated by the number next to the symbol.  These rules must be followed:

• You can never go backwards and must always follow the path.
• No space may have more than one explorer on it
• Spaces already occupied by explorers are skipped when moving, and do not get counted against the movement limit.
• You don’t have to move the entire amount, but must move at least one
  space.
• Some spaces let you decide whether you want to take the long way or a
  short cut.
• After finishing your movement, you always receive the reward indicated on the space your explorer stopped on.
• You don’t get anything for the spaces you moved through to get there.
• If you end your movement on a space wich a quest, you can immediately fulfil it. If you do, take your rewards and add the quest tile to your ship board. Do not replace the quest tile on the game board.

 

• If your explorer crosses the red barrier, immediately gain 3 influence
  with the nation of your choice
• Move your influence marker on the corresponding influence track 3 spaces to the right.
• The first player’s explorer to cross the blue barrier scores 4 victory points. All other players who cross these later score 2 victory points.
• The first player’s explorer to cross the green barrier scores 4 victory points. All other players who cross these later score 2 victory points.

 

• Once your explorer reaches the end of the explorer track, it remains there for the rest of the game. You can immediately perform a village action.
• More than one explorer may be on the last space of the track.
• The first explorer to reach this space scores 10 victory points. The second scores 8, the third scores 6, and the fourth scores  4. If a later action allows you to move your explorer, you lose this movement.

Other City Actions

Gain 1 influence with the nation of your choice, then perform a village action.

You gain 1 combat point, then remove a disc of your choice from your ship board, removing the disc from the game.

You gain 3 combat points. If you reach the end of the combat track, you do not gain any more combat points.

Take 2 doubloons from the supply, then perform
a village action.

You gain 1 combat point and 1 influence with the
nation of your choice.

You may perform 1 village action for each compass
symbol you have (on your ship board or on
project cards in your display).

Score 1 victory point for each combat token
on your ship board. You may discard all cards
in hand. If you do, take 4 doubloons from the
supply.

Take 4 doubloons or score 2 victory points for
each assistant (for each of your figures in locations
in the Caribbean).

You may pay 2 combat points. If you do, gain 1 influence with the nation of your choice and take 6 doubloons.

Tue first ‘homeward bound’ space (No. 20)
Perform a combat action O R move your explorer up
to 2 spaces forward.

Tue second ‘homeward bound’ space (Nos. 21a and 21b)
Score 3 victory points. Perform an interim scoring (see below) at the end of your turn (after Phase C) during rounds I -III.

Tue third ‘homeward bound’ space (No. 22). Score 5 victory points. Proceed to final scoring at the end of your turn (after Phase C).

1. Starting with the player who triggered the interim scoring, each player in clockwise direction chooses one of the following:

• Choose and buy one of your project cards (from your hand or your planning area). Place the card in your display. Redraw cards as in Phase C. You can also choose to invest in a prestige building instead OR
• Score 2 victory points.

2. Receive income according to your markers’ locations on the doubloon and victory point income tracks.
Note: Ignore the victory points indicated on the doubloon income track during interim scoring. 1hese are only relevant during final scoring.

Example: Alex’s markers are on space 12 of the doubloon income track and space 3 of the victory point income track. He receives 12 doubloons and 3 victory points.

3. Remove all delivered goods (i.e. discs) from the cities on the game board, removing them from the game.

4. Discard all face-up cards in the display. Draw four new cards and form a new display (from left to right).

5. Reveal ehe next face-down prestige building (above the game board).

6. Check if the current story card’s requirements have been fulfilled. If there are multiple story cards in play, check them all. Most of the time, a story card’s requirements are fulfilled when a player has claimed the corresponding story tile. The player who fulfilled the requirements reads the reverse side of the story card out loud.

Some story cards require a certain number of discs to be added to a particular legacy tile. If all discs have been placed and this legacy tile is full, the player who ended the current round reads the reverse side of the story card out loud. If multiple story cards have had their requirements fulfilled, deal with them in increasing numerical order.

If there is a decision to be made, a majority vote among the players decides which option to choose (in the event of a tie, the reader breaks the tie).

Once you have finished reading a card, tuck it face-down under your ship board so that your ship’s mast is lengthened. (1his has no in-game effect, but makes your ship look more impressive.)

Typically, you will then be asked to take a new story card from the pile (placing any skipped-over cards at the bottom of the pile).

Read the card and follow its instructions. Then add the card to the appropriate
location on the game board. If you are not playing the campaign (i.e. with story cards 75, 76, or 77), add new quests to the game depending on what round it is and how many players there are. For example, for card 75, round I, you would add quest tiles to locations 6 and 12, plus an extra tile at location 16 in a 3 or
4 player game.

7. Return all ships to Havana (not only the ship of the player who triggered the end of the round!).

After completing these steps, start the next round. Tue next player in clockwise direction (i.e. the player to the left of the player who triggered the end of the round) begins.

How do you win?

Final Scoring (after round IV)

1.  Starting with the player who triggered final scoring, each player in clockwise direction chooses one of the follow1ng:

• Choose and buy one of your project cards (either in your hand or in your planning area). Place the card in your display. You can also choose to invest in a prestige building instead
  OR
• Score 2 victory points.

2 . Score victory points according to your marker’s location on the victory point income track. Depending on the location of your marker on the doubloon income track, score additional victory points (you do not take any more doubloons).

3. Score victory points for all project cards in your display, as well as for your prestige building investments. Cards in hand or in your planning area are not worth anything!

4. For each nation, check which player has gained the most influence with them. For each nation, the player with the most influence scores 3 victory points. In the case of a tie, all tied players score 3 victory points. No victory points are scored for nations where all influence markers are still on the O space.

5. Finally, score players’ noble ranks in each nation. For each nation, multiply your noble rank by the nation’s multiplier:

• First, determine each nation’s multiplier. lt is equal to the nation’s number of empty spaces (i.e. spaces next to the influence track from which all nation markers were removed), along with a majority bonus.

• Majority bonus: Check how many nation markers are on the board (in cities, villages, and on legacy tiles) for each nation. The nation with the most nation markers receives a majority bonus of 2. The nation with the second-most nation markers receives a majority bonus of 1. In the case of a tie, all tied nations receive the higher value. If two nations are tied for first, they both receive a majority bonus of 2 and the third-place nation receives nothing. If all three nations are tied for first, they all receive a majority
  bonus of 2.
  Now, for each nation, multiply your noble rank (the
  value of the last red band you reached on the influence
  track) by that nation’s multiplier. Score that many victory
  points.

6. Using the same rules as with interim scoring, check to see if any story cards have had their requirements fulfilled. If a new story card is added to the game, add it to the game board as usual, but do not follow its instructions yet. lt will be added to the archive (blue bag) at the end of the game

References

Career Cards

You career card shows three tasks that you can complete in any order during the game. Each task shows two different options for completing the tasks.

As soon as you meet the upper requirement for any tasks, you can use a free action now or later to complete the task. If you do, immediately take the doubloons
indicated and add the corresponding figure to your supply.

You can also wait until you meet the lower requirement instead. In that case, you score victory points in addition to taking doubloons and adding a figure to your supply.

You can complete each task only once. As soon as you complete all three tasks, take the card’s rewards (2 doubloons and 2 victory points). You have been promoted to Admiral.

Tuck the card face-down under your ship board so that your ship’s mast
is lengthened. (This has no in-game effect, but makes your ship fook more impressive.)

Ship Upgrades

You will have various opportunities over the course of the game to remove a disc from your ship board (for example, when delivering a good to a city). As soon as you remove both discs from an area of your ship, you receive either an immediate bonus (tan background) or an ongoing effect (red background):

If you choose to perform a village action as your main action (not as part of an assistant action or from some other effect!), you can perform two village actions if you spent at least 2-4 movement points this turn, or three village actions if you spent at least 5 movement points this turn (i.e. not the 4-6 or 7 movement points normally required).

Your hand lirnit is increased to six cards (instead of four).

You immediately score 3 victory points. You can take cards from the display for free.

You im.mediately take 5 doubloons.

You immediately score 3 victory points.

You can only remove discs from this area if you have already trigged the “3 victory points” area. You im.mediately score 6 v1ctory points.

You have a new combat action available to you:
Choose a village (not a city!). If there is no ownership marker present, reduce the combat value by 2.

If there is already an ownership marker present, reduce the combat value by 5 and displace the ownership marker, removing it from the game. Place a marker from the nation you are fighting with onto location and gain 1 influence wich that nation.

Take 3 doubloons for each assistant you have in the location, and 1 doubloon
for each assistant the other players have in the location.

New village actions: As soon as you remove both discs from one of these areas, you have a new village action available to you.

Gain 1 combat point and take 1 doubloon.

You can only remove discs from this area if you have already triggered the village action above.

Discard three identical goods (not objects!) from your hand. If you do, take 2 doubloons and score 2 victory points.

You can only remove discs from the areas described below once you have already removed both discs from at least four other areas!

New village action:

You have a new village action available to you. You can only perform this village action in a village without an ownership marker.

Take a marker from the nation of your choice and place it in the village. Gain 1 influence with that nation and take 1 doubloon.

Immediate effect:

Choose one of the following three options:

• Either immediately move your explorer up to 3 spaces (and take the indicated reward), OR
• take 4 doubloons and score 4 victory points, OR
• move one of your influence markers up to the next noble rank (red band).

You can only remove discs from the area described below once you have already removed both discs from at least six other areas!

You immediately score 10 victory points.

Cards Explanation

You can use cards in various different ways: as goods, as objects, or you
can buy them. If you use a card as a good or as an object, you must
discard it.
Once you have bought a card, or added it to your planning area, you can
no longer use it as a good or as an object.

Buying Cards

You can only buy cards by performing a village action (exception: during interim or final scoring). You can only buy cards in your hand or in your planning area. You can choose to invest in a prestige building instead.

As soon as you buy a card, add it to your display next to your ship board. You can use its effects immediately. Remember that you can’t use the effects of cards in your planning area – you have to buy them first!

Most cards show only a doubloon amount. To buy the card, pay the number of doubloons indicated to the supply. Some card effects (from previously-bought cards) can reduce the cost, but never to less than O doubloons.

If a figure is shown next to the doubloon cost, then you must also return a figure to the general supply.

If a number is shown beneath the figure, then you must place a figure from your supply onto the indicated location. Your figure is now an assistant. Starting next turn, the next time your ship is at the indicated location you can perform the indicated assistant action as your main action.

Some cards have additional requirements or costs that must be paid when buying them. 

Card Effects

As soon as you buy a card, its effects are in play:

Income Effects

Project card effects on green backgrounds increase your income. Move your doubloon or victory point income track marker forward.
There are two kinds of income:

Immediately move your marker on the corresponding income track forward.

You can only move your marker on the corresponding income track forward when you own the indicated synergy token (see below). If you obtain the necessary synergy token later in the game, you adjust your income then.

SYNERGY TOKENS

Some cards or prestige buildings have one of the five synergy symbols indicated on a tan background. When you buy one of these cards, and you don’t own the indicated synergy token yet, immediately take it from the general supply and place it next to your ship board (so you only get one token per synergy, never more).

Some income effects are only activated when you own the necessary synergy token. You can also activate the income retroactively, if you obtain the synergy token later. You should always check to see if any new income effects were activated when you obtain a synergy token.

There are two income tracks on the game board: one for victory points and one for doubloons. Whenever your income increases (from buying a card or from obtaining a synergy token that increases your income), move your marker on the
corresponding track forward.

After the fourth round, you don’t receive doubloon income anymore. Instead, you score victory points depending on the position of your marker on the doubloon income track.

If your doubloon income marker is on the last space on the track (34) and you would increase your doubloon income, increase your victory point income instead. In other words, turn any further doubloon income into victory point income.

If your victory point income marker reaches the last space on the track (20), immediately score 20 victory points for each remaining scoring (interim and final) and return your marker to the O space.

You can always check that you have adjusted your income correctly by summing up your project card income (plus 8 doubloons base income).

Effects on red backgrounds are special effects that either allow you to perform new actions or improve other actions.

 

Effects on blue backgrounds are assistant actions that you can perform when your ship is in the same location as your assistant.

 

Effects on tan backgrounds are immediate effects that occur when you buy the card.

 

Prestige Buildings

Prestige buildings are special project cards. They are worth victory points at the end of the game. During setup, place four prestige buildings above the game board – one face-up, three face-down. Reveal another prestige building at the end of rounds I, II, and III.

Any time you could buy a card, you can invest in a prestige building instead. Prestige buildings are communal projects – all players can take part in them.

To invest in a prestige building, you must:
a. Pay the indicated doubloons and take one of your figures from the supply, placing it onto the prestige building.

b. Take the synergy tile, if you don’t have it yet.

c. Immediately score 2 victory points if you are the first player to invest in this particular prestige building.

All players can invest in all prestige buildings, however you are not allowed to invest in the same prestige building more than once.

Prestige buildings always stay above the gameboard.

Quests

Each quest has costs in its upper portion and a reward in its lower portion.

To fulfil a quest, you must be able to pay the costs.

If the costs are goods or objects, you must discard cards from your hand that show these goods or objects. Pay doubloons or figures to the general supply. Pay combat points by adjusting your marker.

Once you have paid the costs, you receive a reward. Part of the reward depends on how many compass symbols you have. You receive the reward once for each compass symbol you have (on cards and on your ship board). You start the game with a compass symbol on your ship board, so quests are worth something right from the start of the game.

Additionally, you may also receive a further reward which does not depend on how many compass symbols you have.

After receiving your reward, take the quest tile and add it face-down to the left-most empty space in the quest track on your ship board. Remember not to immediately replenish quest tiles – only when a new story card is revealed!